


in sick health

by fireandfolds, lenalvthors



Series: chronological order, baby [2]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Best Friends, Bisexual Kara Danvers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Endgame Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, F/F, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluffy Ending, Friends to Lovers, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Lena Luthor Knows Kara Danvers Is Supergirl, Lesbian Lena Luthor, Light Angst, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Relationships, Pre-Relationship, Protective Kara Danvers, Romance, Romantic Fluff, SOFT GAYS, Sharing a Bed, Sickfic, Sleepy Cuddles, Slow Burn, Slow Burn Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, featuring the iconic bridal carry, i'm j soft for soft supercorp okay, let them hug again goddammit, non-sexual shows of affection, they're both gay for each other your honor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-06
Updated: 2020-03-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:07:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23035243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fireandfolds/pseuds/fireandfolds, https://archiveofourown.org/users/lenalvthors/pseuds/lenalvthors
Summary: kara takes a sick lena home to make her recuperate. they finally get their act together.title from romeo & juliet.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Series: chronological order, baby [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2022043
Comments: 23
Kudos: 439





	in sick health

**Author's Note:**

> a sickfic originally started by lena (@kinqsguard) & co-written by kieran (@kieranledits)

Lena’s throat was almost as sore as her nose was runny. She didn’t even try to speak, because she knew that it would come out as a croaky mess. 

“ _Fuck_ ,” Lena mentally groaned, struggling to push herself up. As much as she wanted to stay home, she knew that there were too many papers to sign and tasks to finish. So, she pulled up her Luthor bootstraps and slowly got out of bed.

The getting ready and getting driven to work passed in a blur, and soon Lena was standing in the silent elevator, trying to keep herself from falling.

“Good morning, Ms. Luthor,” said Jess, greeting Lena in a perky voice as soon as she walked out of the elevator, although she didn’t even look up from the stacks of paper in front of her. 

“Mm,” Lena mumbed, too tired and too damn sick to offer any kind of normal response. She wore dark sunglasses to cover her eyes, which were lacking any makeup. Her hands were too shaky and too tired to lift anything for longer than five seconds, and her eyes were watering and threatening to droop shut. 

“Ms. Luthor, are you alright?” Jess asked, her eyes flicking up toward Lena.

Lena nodded. “’M fine,” she mumbled, but she cringed when she heard what her voice sounded like. The high, commanding, even _haughty_ tone, was gone. Thank god Lena didn’t have any meetings, she didn’t think she could face rooms full of men with her voice sounding like this. 

Despite Lena’s repeated, indignant, denials of being sick, Jess insisted on helping Lena to her chair before handing her some papers to sign. The secretary didn’t realize the extent of Lena’s sickness until she saw the young Luthor trying to sign a document. The normally controlled CEO moved slowly and confusedly, almost like she couldn’t see well. After making sure Lena was securely in her chair, Jess speed-walked back to her desk, grabbed her phone, and dialed her most frequent speed-dial number. 

“Hello? Ms. Danvers? Yes, this is Jess Chang, Ms. Luthor’s secretary. Ms. Luthor came in today looking a little...rough. Could you _please_ convince her to go home? For everyone’s sake.”

———

“This is a day I’d never thought I’d live to see,” Kara gloated, grinning and setting the soup she was holding down on Lena’s desk. “Lena Luthor, the CEO of L-Corp; _sick._ ” 

“I am _not_ ,” Lena said defensively, even though they both knew she most definitely was.

It wasn’t the fact she was sick that was bothering Lena (although her runny nose and sore throat _were_ quite annoying). It was more that being sick made her weak, and Lena had always been taught to never show weakness. Despite Lillian being a horrible person and an even worse mother, she did teach Lena a few valuable lessons. 

Kara giggled, the sound like music to Lena’s ears. “It’s alright that you are. Everyone gets sick.”

Kara gently grabbed Lena, leading her away from the desk and towards the couch. On the way, she pulled a blanket out of her side-satchel, draping it over the younger woman’s proud shoulders.

“I’m not everyone. I’m a _Luthor_. Luthors don’t get sick,” Lena said, as she positioned herself comfortably on the couch and cracked open the lid to the soup anyway. 

“If you say so, Lee,” Kara tossed back, with a playful shrug. Lena’s eyes couldn’t help but stray from Kara’s, landing on and taking in her full pink lips that looked natural except for maybe a slight gloss. A light blush blossomed on Kara’s cheeks, and Lena quickly averted her eyes, focusing on the soup in front of her. It smelled heavenly. 

“It’s a Danvers’ deluxe. And it’s like the only thing I know how to cook without burning the house on fire, if I’m being honest,” Kara said, with a small smile and a wink. 

Even though it hurt her throat and strained her vocal cords, Lena laughed. She laughed for Kara Zor-El Danvers, because that woman was too damn perfect not to. “Well, thank you, Kara. I really appreciate it, even though I’m _not_ sick.”

“Well, I don’t think you’ll appreciate me so much when I force you to go home,” said Kara, 

“You can’t do that! I have a company to run! I have things to do, papers to sign, people to call, emails to send. I can’t just _go home_ , L-Corp depends on me!” Lena cried out. _Damn,_ she thought to herself, _speaking more than one sentence at a time really hurts the throat._

Kara rolled her eyes, in the way only best friends could bring out. “Don’t be dramatic, Lee, L-Corp will be fine for one day without you. Let me fly you home.”

Ever the stubborn Luthor, Lena shook her head. “No, I can work. Just give me a second...”

“Lee, no. You can barely hold your head up, let alone do all that. Look, your hands are trembling, you can’t-- oh Rao, you just spilt soup all over yourself!” Kara exclaimed, tapping into her super speed to grab a tissue from the table and wipe up the stain on Lena’s blouse. When she saw it wasn’t working, the Kryptonian panicked and started unbuttoning the blouse as fast as she could. When she got to where the blouse was tucked into the pants, Kara’s nimble fingers froze. Her mind finally caught up with her actions, “ _Wait…”_

Lena noticed how close Kara’s head was to her breast, covered only by her _lacy, expensive_ bra, and a part of her wanted to press a kiss to the top of Kara’s head. Another part of her wanted to laugh. A third, darker part wanted to push Kara’s head into the crevice. Did Kara really think taking off her blouse was the best course of action? If it wasn’t for the thickening tension in the room, Lena would have found this hilarious. 

“Rao, Lena, I’m sorry,” Kara whispered urgently. _Why are you sorry?_ Lena wanted to scream. The way Kara looked up at Lena, lips slightly parted, her eyes filled with regret and confusion and maybe a little bit of amusement made Lena want to pull Kara close and kiss her senseless. 

But she pushed the thought away. This was her best friend. Why was she thinking such things about her _best_ _friend_? She was no better than the men on her board. A sickening wave of guilt and nausea washed over her as she scooched away from Kara and started buttoning up her blouse. 

“Listen, darling, thank you for everything. I should probably go. You don’t need to trouble yourself with flying, I had Cas drive me,” Lena said. She stood from the couch, but she stumbled, nearly faceplanting, saved only by Kara’s _warm, strong, sexy- wait what?_ arms.

“Jeez, Lee, one of these days you’re going to accidentally kill yourself,” Kara joked, holding Lena tight against her chest in a bridal carry fashion.

“Won’t you always be there to save me?” Lena asked, hooking her arms around the hero’s neck and staring deep into Kara’s eyes. They were so blue. They were like the sky and the oceans, but so much more. They were out of this world. Literally. Kara Danvers’ eyes were blessings from Krypton.

“Well, Ms. Luthor, you’re not going soft on me, are you?”

“Never,” Lena said, but it wasn’t true. Kara always had and always would make Lena go soft, even if she was too stubborn and too proud to admit it.

“How’s about I fly you home?” Kara asked cheekily.

Lena finally agreed after much hesitation, so Kara settled her on the couch while she zipped around and gathered all of her belongings, packing them in the CEO’s briefcase. In a blink, Kara had flown to Lena’s penthouse to drop off the things and was back in her _utterly dashing,_ skin tight uniform. After notifying Jess and locking the office down, she settled the youngest Luthor in her arms and headed to the penthouse.

———

The cold air hit Lena like a sack of wet cement. Yes, she had felt that before, building her lab. Hurriedly and without thinking too much, she tucked her face into Kara’s neck. Kara tightened her arms around her precious cargo in response, upping the speed slightly in order to touch down on the balcony faster. They glided down to a stop gently on the smooth stone, and Lena slowly entered the code to open the door, still in the hero’s arms. 

Had it been a different day, Kara would’ve ribbed the shorter woman about her _fancy shmancy_ electronic locks; but today her mission was to take care of her best friend. After helping the young Luthor into the bedroom and leaving her to change into some comfortable clothes, she scooped up her friend’s belongings she had left on her first trip to the penthouse and deposited them in the home office. On the way to Lena’s bedroom, she went into the kitchen to pour a glass of water and the linen closet to grab some pain relievers and cold medicine. 

Kara knocked on the bedroom door. “Lee? You decent?”

“Peachy,” was the dry reply.

Kara took that as an affirmation and walked in to find Lena sitting on the edge of her king-size bed, dressed in the blonde’s National City University sweatshirt, grey sweatpants, and fuzzy socks. Normally the Luthor wouldn’t be caught dead in fuzzy socks, but time around the _walking human golden retriever_ that was Kara Zor-El Danvers had softened her habits.

“So _that’s_ where my sweatshirt went! No- no, you don’t have to take it off! You look better in it anyway,” Kara stuttered out.

Lena gave a small smile, but it quickly disappeared as she winced and reached for her temple. Rushing to her side, Kara slipped the glass and capsules into her hands. After Lena downed the pills with the water, she reached for her best friend.

“Please...stay?” Lena whispered hesitantly, and Kara knew it took every scrap of the CEO’s pride to ask; the youngest Luthor was rarely vulnerable, always composed and controlled. She softened and leaned down to drop a kiss on the raven hairline. 

“Yeah, gimme a sec. I’m gonna borrow some clothes, is that okay?”

“Mmmhmm.”

Kara whisked into Lena’s huge walk-in closet, making a beeline for the dresser drawer with all of the comfy clothes she made her best friend buy. _“Sleepovers call for comfy clothes and comfy clothes only, Lee!”_ She quickly dressed, then folded her work clothes and supersuit up, stowing them away in her satchel.

When she returned to the bedroom, she found a Lena curled up under the blankets. Setting down her satchel next to a bedside table, she climbed into bed next to the younger woman. 

Lena made grabby hands toward Kara as the older woman climbed into bed beside her. “You’re hogging all the blankets,” Kara grumbled, pulling on the comforter.

Lena giggled, but almost gasped when Kara’s leg bumped her own. Her touch was so warm and soothing. It made Lena feel something deep inside, something she’d never quite felt before. The fluttering sensation in her stomach, the pounding of her heart, a warm red flushing her cheeks because their bodies were just so damn close. 

“Lee, your heart. It’s beating so fast,” Kara whispered urgently. “Am I doing something wrong? Am I hurting you?”

“No darling, you're doing everything fine. You’re doing everything perfectly. You’re perfect.” 

Lena felt arms wrap around her shoulders, gently pulling her toward the walking space heater that was her best friend. She followed the momentum, burrowing into Kara’s chest.

“Did you know that if you’re cuddled up with someone, eventually your heartbeat will sync up with theirs?”

“Yes, I did, actually. Thank you for calming me down, if that’s what you were trying to do.”

“Nah, I was just trying to get closer to your sexy bod.”

“Flatterer.” Lena chanced a kiss on her best friend’s strong jaw, both of them blushing slightly.

“How’re you feeling?” Kara asked while combing through Lena’s thick black hair, brushing it away from her piercing chartreuse eyes. She heard the CEO sigh sleepily and knew that the meds were finally kicking in. 

“Better now that you’re with me.”

Kara smiled, and tucked a lock of hair behind Lena’s ear. There was something building up deep inside of her that was practically begging to be released, a sensation that could only be brought on by Lena Luthor herself. Kara imagined tenderly pressing her lips against Lena’s forehead, and bringing them down upon her lips and her neck, until finally she reached-- _what the hell is wrong with me?_

No matter how close they held each other, no matter what Kara felt, it could never be. They could never be more than friends. 

“Kar?” Lena murmured softly. Kara didn’t realize she had abruptly pulled her hand away, leaving nothing but cold in its place.

Shifting away from Lena, Kara fought back tears threatening to leak from her eyes. Why did she think it was a good idea to ever get this close? If Lena was the forbidden fruit, then Kara was Eve, slowly succumbing to the willful and irresistible temptation of the fruit. It was best if she stayed away, because being so close would only feed the temptation within.

“I’m sorry, Lee.”

“What for?”

Kara sighed, and wiped at the tear trickling down her cheek. “Hell, I don’t know, for giving you hope. For getting so close. For letting this happen, for letting whatever this is between us, happen.”

“You wish you never met me?” Her voice was a mixture of pain and betrayal and confusion and hurt.

“No, that’s not what I meant. I don’t even know what you feel for me, Lena. Do you feel… do you feel the way I feel?”

“Kara, of course I feel how you feel. From the moment I laid my eyes on you, there was nothing I wanted more,” said Lena, sitting up and looking into the Kryptonian’s eyes.

“I… that doesn’t make anything better. Something could never happen between us. I’m sorry if I made it seem like something could, because it can’t. Even if I want to, _it can’t._ ”

“And why not?”

“Because _everything._ Because I’m Supergirl, and you’re… you. You’re Lena Luthor.”

“So because of my last name you’re suppressing how you feel? After all this time, do you still think that I’m not trustworthy? That given the chance, I’ll turn my back on you and join Lex? That deep down I’m evil, just like every other Luthor?” Lena could hardly feel the effects of the drugs, she was so consumed in her feelings; her anger, her love, her passion, her desire. _Fight for me, Kara._

“ _No._ Lena, I trust you. I’ll always trust you. But, everything about this is messy. I’m Supergirl, and I love that. I love being Supergirl, but it changes things, Lee. You know things would be different if I was Kara and Kara only. But I’m both. What would people think—”

“I don’t _care_ what people think!” Lena cut off, gripping her hands tight around Kara’s shoulders. “I don’t give a damn if people think I’m Supergirl’s bitch or Kara Danvers’ lovesick girlfriend. None of that matters to me. _You_ are what matters to me, Kar. It’s always been you.”

And for a moment, Kara was at a loss for words. 

Kara sighed, loosening Lena’s grip on her shoulders and got up out of the bed without a word, needing some fresh air to straighten out her thoughts. She walked out of the bedroom, past the living room and out onto the balcony. Leaning on the railing with a huff that released microscopic ice crystals, she looked down upon the quiet city. If she followed through and started a relationship with Lena, there was no doubt in her mind it would end up like Romeo & Juliet: star-crossed lovers destined to end in disaster.

Apparently, the dose of sleeping pills wasn’t enough, or perhaps it was pure willpower, because soon she heard Lena’s careful gait behind her. She didn’t turn around, though, and was shocked when she felt the young Luthor’s hands on her shoulders trying to turn her around. She was expecting Lena to stand beside her, but clearly she was mistaken. She went along with the movement, if only to avoid breaking her human friend’s fragile bones.

Lena made eye contact with Kara’s watery blues as she gently removed the frames perched on her nose. 

“Kar, darling. What’s going on?”

The taller woman’s arms came up to encircle Lena’s neck as she breaks the eye contact and exhales for an _inhuman_ length. Right when she was about to nudge her again, Kara looked up and whispered,

“For never was a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”

Lena rushed to comfort her obviously devastated best friend, wrapping her arms around the blonde’s firm torso. 

“Kar…babe, we’re not a Shakespearean tragedy. I love you, okay? I always have. You told me you’ll always be my friend, and it applies to you too. I will always be your best friend and you will always be mine, alright? If we ever do become something _more_ , our relationship will just build upon the friendship we have.” She palmed Kara’s jawline, gently nudging her to maintain eye contact. “Now it’s my turn to share a psychology fact. Romantic relationships are stronger and last longer if they’re based on friendship first. I want to try. If it doesn’t work out, we can always go back to being friends, but if we could have been more and we missed that chance? I would never forgive myself.”

Kara shuddered in a breath, leaning down to touch her forehead to Lena’s. She could feel Lena’s already fast heartbeat speeding up, and Kara wondered if her own heart was beating just as quickly. Lena went on her tiptoes and pressed a chaste kiss across Kara’s lips. It was short and sweet, and made Kara crave more; she wanted to feel the warmth and taste the taste of Lena’s lips. She wanted to hold Lena tight in her arms and never let her go. And by the look in her eyes, Kara knew Lena wanted the same. 

All of a sudden, the taller woman ducked her head, tucking it into the crevice of Lena’s neck. The young Luthor felt wetness on her collarbone and Kara’s shoulders were shaking.

“Kar?”

“Happy tears, Lee. With you, it’s always happy tears.”

Lena nudged Kara’s head with her shoulder until she got the message. When azure met chartreuse, she thumbed away the reporter’s tears and leaned in to drop a peck on her cheek. 

“I love you.”

Kara let out a watery chuckle. “I love you.”

“C’mon, let’s go back to bed.”

“ _Wow,_ Ms. Luthor, you really don’t waste any time, do you? I prefer to be wined and dined first, but I suppose I can make an exception, just this once.”

“No funny business, I’ll keep my hands to myself. I’m a patient woman.”

“That being said, can I take you out on a date? When you get better?” 

“Not if I take you out first…”

By now, they were in the bedroom again. They climbed into the bed and arranged their limbs in well-practiced movements. When they got settled, Kara left a sweet kiss on Lena’s temple as they both began to be pulled by slumber.

fin.

**Author's Note:**

> honestly had a great time with this one. but! i have better fics. may i interest you in my fic about lena wearing glasses and making kara a gay mess? you can read that [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23181505/chapters/55488211).
> 
> you can find me elsewhere on [my carrd](https://fireandfolds.carrd.co/).


End file.
